Robinsons Retail bags P1.37-B net income for H1

MANILA, Philippines – Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc, (RRHI) the retail holding company of the Gokongwei group said Friday, August 15, that its net income for the first half of 2014 is P1.37 billion ($31.36 million) – a 26% increase from P1.08 billion ($24.73 million) in the same period last year.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, excluding non-recurring items and non-core items, RRHI’s core earnings for the second quarter grew by 20.4% year-on-year to P766 million ($17.56 million). This core income excluded interest income, equitized net earnings from the 40% stake in Robinsons Bank, and unrealized forex gains/losses.

For the 6-month period, core net earnings grew by 18% year-on-year to P1.3 billion. First semester net sales grew by 18.1% year-on-year to P36.98 billion from the sales contribution of 240 new stores, same store growth of 3.2%, as well as contribution from newly acquired businesses such as 6-store EZ Supermartket, 3-store Jaynith supermarket chain, 8 Shiseido, and two Benefit cosmetics stores.

“Despite increasing competition, I am happy that we were able to sustain the strong same store sales growth for the period,” said RRHI president Robina Gokongwei-Pe.

“We have started to operate the stores of AM Buildings Depot this July, our entry into the big box segment of the hardware business,” Gokongwei-Pe added.

The 6-month cash flow based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up by 17.4% year-on-year to P2.45 billion with a margin of 6.6%.

On Friday, August 15, RRHI was scheduled to open a new format in its food retail segment called “Robinsons Easymart,” a network of compact neighborhood grocery stores.

Gokongwei-Pe said this was RRHI’s way of “addressing the convenience and accessibility needs of consumers with products at competitive prices.”

RRHI ended June with a total of 1,180 stores, up from 940 a year ago.

The company said it was on track to end the year with 1,400 stores.

RRHI is also spending P7 billion ($160.25 million) for store expansion this year, significantly higher than last year’s P2.8 billion ($64.07 million).  – Rappler.com

($1 = P43.68)